Larimer election staff goes overtime

Weekend hours available for ballot drop-off

Hoping to avoid long delays in reporting the Nov. 6 election results, county election staffers will work Saturday to collect as many mail ballots as possible.

Loveland drop-off locations will be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Monday at the Police and Courts Building, 810 E. 10th St. and the former Blockbuster Video location in the Thompson Valley Towne Center at the northwest corner of Taft Avenue and Southwest 14th Street.

In Estes Park, the early voting center at the Municipal Building, 170 McGregor Ave., will keep the same hours. All locations will also be open Monday from 8 to 5.

The popular Loveland drive-up option, on Lincoln Avenue just north of Sixth Street adjacent to the county's motor vehicle office, also will be available on Monday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., in addition to the traditional Tuesday hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

More than three-quarters of active registered voters in Larimer County opt to vote by mail, but thousands of those mail-in ballots are still in voters' hands.

“We need to let those voting by mail know that they shouldn't wait until the last minute to return those mail-in ballots," Larimer County Clerk and Recorder Scott Doyle said.

"If we receive thousands of mail ballots during the afternoon of Election Day, Nov. 6, we will likely have delays reporting results election night, and results will be delayed until the next day, or maybe longer.”

The early voting sites will be open Monday for mail ballot drop-off or replacement.

The county's mail-in election history shows a quarter of mail voters wait until the last few hours of Election Day to turn in their ballots. Election officials must verify the signatures on the ballots and then process the ballots for counting.

"If even 20 percent of voters wait to return their ballots this year, that's more than 32,000 ballots that must be processed, and we will see delays in reporting of results Election Night,” Doyle said.

“The sooner we receive the bulk of our mail ballots, the sooner we can post results on election night. Ideally we would like to receive most of the mail ballots back by Monday morning, Nov. 5.”

For more information about voting by mail, including drop-off locations and the status of your mail ballot, visit www.votelarimer.org.